Today in 1959, one night after their concert at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson got on a Beechcraft Bonanza in Mason City, Iowa, to fly to Fargo, N.D., for a concert in Moorhead, Minn.
The trio, along with Dion and the Belmonts, were part of the Winter Dance Party Tour, a 24-city tour over three weeks, with its ridiculously scheduled tour dates connected by bus.
Said bus, whose heater broke early in the tour, froze in below-zero temperatures two nights earlier between the scheduled concert in the Duluth, Minn., National Guard Armory, and the next scheduled location, the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay.
Holly’s drummer had to be hospitalized with frostbite in his feet, and Valens also became ill. The tour got to Green Bay, but its scheduled concert in Appleton that evening was canceled.
After the concert in Clear Lake, Holly decided to rent an airplane. Holly’s bass player, Waylon Jennings, gave his seat to the Big Bopper because he was sick, and Valens won a coin flip with Holly’s guitarist, Tommy Allsup. Dion DiMucci chose not to take a seat because the $36 cost equaled his parents’ monthly rent.
As he was leaving, Holly told Jennings, “I hope your ol’ bus freezes up,” to which Jennings replied, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes!”
Shortly after the 12:55 a.m. takeoff, the plane crashed, instantly killing Holly, Valens, the Big Bopper and the pilot.
The scheduled concert that evening went on, with organizers recruiting a 15-year-old, Robert Velline, and his band the Shadows. Bobby Vee went on to have a good career.
The number one single today in 1968:
The number one single today in 1973:
The number one album today in 1979 was the Blues Brothers’ “Briefcase Full of Blues”:
Birthdays begin with one of Dion’s Belmonts, Angelo D’Aleo:
First: I have been asked to say that it’s a great day for groundhogs. Thus, a decades-long tradition is not only maintained, but expanded online.
(By the way: If a groundhog near you predicts six more weeks of winter, you are authorized to kill the groundhog to prevent that prediction from ever happening again. The fact that winter in Wisconsin lasts more like 12 weeks from now regardless of groundhog predictions is beside the point.)
Today in 1959, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper all appeared at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.
That would be their final concert appearance because of what happened after the concert.
Today in 1973, a bad thing to happen to a piano player happened — Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake & Palmer injured his hands when a piano, rigged to explode during a concert, exploded prematurely. That would not make him a …
That same day, or night, was the premiere of NBC-TV’s “The Midnight Special”:
The number one British album today 1974 was the Carpenters’ “The Singles 1969–1973”:
The number one single on both sides of the Atlantic today in 1985:
Today in 2004, CBS-TV apologized for the previous day’s Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show, which featured …
Singer Justin Timberlake also apologized, saying, “I am sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the half-time performance of the Super Bowl,” thus adding the phrase “wardrobe malfunction” to our cultural lexicon.
Birthdays begin with Alan Caddy, guitarist for the Tornadoes:
Graham Nash played for the Hollies and Crosby Stills and Nash (and occasionally Young):
Ronnie Goodson of John Fred and His Playboy Band:
Howard Bellamy was one of the Bellamy Brothers:
Peter Lucia of Tommy James and the Shondells:
Alan McKay played guitar for Earth Wind & Fire:
Ross Valory played bass for the Steve Miller Band and Journey:
Robert Deleo of the Stone Temple Pilots:
Ben Mize played drums for the Counting Crows:
One death of note, today in 2007: Billy Henderson of the Spinners:
Today in 1917, the first jazz record was recorded:
The number one British single today in 1959:
The number one single today in 1961 was the first number one for a girl group:
Today in 1969, the Beatles held their last concert, on the roof of their Apple Records building:
The number one British single today in 1970:
The number one single today in 1982:
Today in 1988, testimony in a court case involving Frankie Goes to Hollywood lead singer Holly Johnson claimed that when you thought you heard the band in its two biggest hits, you really didn’t:
Birthdays begin with one-instrumental-hit wonder Horst Jankowski:
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